1. People & Departments
  2. Washington College
  3. Luke Drake

Luke Drake

Staff
Center for Environment & Society
  • Director of Sustainable Food Systems

headshot of Luke Drake

Education

  • B.S. Business Administration, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • M.A. Geography, University of Miami, Coral Gables FL
  • Ph.D. Geography, Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ

Professional Work

It seems like my career has always had something to do with food and plants. My job at Washington College is to work through the Center for Environment and Society to do applied research on food systems and regenerative agriculture, engage students in hands-on experiential learning, and work with civic partners to food systems solutions. Prior to working at Washington College, I was an Associate Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at California State University, Northridge; I began my academic career as a Research Associate in Landscape Architecture at Rutgers University. Before all that, I also worked as a small business advisor through the U.S. Peace Corps, based at a farmer’s cooperative in the Pacific country Vanuatu. Additionally, I managed sales and vineyard education in the Western U.S. for a wine importer. As a high school and college student, I worked at mom-and-pop garden centers.

Research

I research how food systems play a role in household and community livelihoods, and the environmental processes that relate to these livelihood strategies. My past and current projects include agrobiodiversity, disaster resilience, sustainable gardening, farmer’s markets, community gardens, and urban greening. I use mixed methods, such as participatory action research, quantitative (inferential and spatial statistics; field measurements of air quality, soil, sunlight, and plant growth); qualitative (interviews, questionnaire surveys, discourse analysis), and geospatial (GIS, remote sensing, mobile GPS, aerial photography) techniques. Civic engagement is part of my work, and I have partnered with government agencies such as agriculture extension in the U.S. and the Vanuatu Bureau of Statistics, non-profit and non-governmental organizations, and grassroots community groups.

Teaching Experience

  • Geographic Information Science
  • Research Design
  • Development in Oceania
  • Environment, Economy, and Development
  • Cities, Space, and Power
  • Field Studies
  • Mixed Methods for Human and Environmental Geography
  • Senior Capstone Research Project

Publications                                              

Drake, L., Liunakwalaua, H., and Hango Hango Community Association. 2022. Locating the traditional economy in Port Vila, Vanuatu: Disaster relief and agrobiodiversity. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 63(1), 80-96.                                                                                                      

Drake, L. 2020. Visualizing and analyzing diverse economies with GIS: A resource for performative research. In The Handbook of Diverse Economies, (eds) J.K. Gibson-Graham and K. Dombrosk, pp. 493-501. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Drake, L. 2019. Network analysis of local food in California: A study of farmers' markets in Los Angeles and their farm supply chains. California Geographer 58: 1-20.                                                                                                  

Drake, L. 2019. Surplus labor and subjectivity in urban agriculture: Embodied work, contested work. Economic Geography 95(2), 179-200.                                                                                                           

Drake, L., Ravit, B., and Lawson, L. 2016. Developing a vacant property inventory through productive partnerships: A university, NGO, and municipal planning collaboration in Trenton, New Jersey. Cities and the Environment (CATE) 8(2), Article 6. :                                                                                                      

Lawson, L., Drake, L., and Fitzgerald, N. 2016. Foregrounding community-building in community food security: A case study of the New Brunswick Community Farmers Market and Esperanza Garden. In Cities of Farmers: Urban Agricultural Practice and Processes. Edited by Alfonso Morales and Julie Dawson. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

Drake, L. and Lawson, L. 2015. Best practices in community garden management to address participation, water access, and outreach. Journal of Extension 53 (6)                                                                                              

Drake, L., Ravit, B., Dikidjieva, I., and Lawson, L. 2015. Urban greening supported by GIS: From data collection to policy implementation. AIMS Environmental Science 2(4), 910-934.                                                                                                        

Drake, L., and Lawson, L. 2015. Results of a U.S. and Canada community garden survey: Shared challenges in garden management amid diverse geographical and organizational contexts. Agriculture and Human Values 32 (2), 241-254                                                                                              

Lawson, L., and Drake, L. 2015. From beets in the Bronx to chard in Chicago: The discourse and practice of growing food in the American city. In Food in the City: Histories of Culture and Cultivation (pp. 143-162). Edited by Dorothée Imbert. Washington D.C.: Harvard University and Dumbarton Oaks                                                                                                 

Drake, L. 2014. Governmentality in urban food production: Following “community” from intentions to outcomes. Urban Geography 35 (2), 177-196.                                                                                    

Drake, L., and Lawson, L. Validating verdancy or vacancy? The relationship of community gardens and vacant lands in the U.S. Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning. 40, Part B (0):133-142                                                                

Barron, E., Drake, L., and Morrow, O. 2014. Introduction to the symposium. Book symposium on Take Back the Economy: An Ethical Guide for Transforming our Communities by J.K. Gibson-Graham, Jenny Cameron and Stephen Healy, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 2013. Social and Cultural Geography 15 (8), 966-967.